King Hezekiah, king of the southern kingdom of Judah, listened as his advisors, his military leaders, and scouts reported on the horrors and destruction of the North Kingdom of Israel at the hands of the Assyrian army. It was only a matter of time before they finished picking Israel’s bones and turn their insatiable attention towards the smaller kingdom of Judah and the city of Jerusalem to the south. With their backs against the wall, what could King Hezekiah, the Judean army, and the people of Judah do in the face of their possible destruction?
Several years ago I had the privilege of visiting the Holy Land. If you ever get the chance to go, you should absolutely take it. Perhaps the “eeriest” part … for the lack of a better word … was our short tour of the “Golan Heights.” It looked like a deserted World War I battleground. We walked through trenches, looked inside of bomb shelters, and climbed up observation posts. To the north … right there … was the southern borders of Lebanon and Syria and the eastern border of Jordan.
The term “heights” is right because the countries of Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon are up on a huge plateau looking down on the northern territory of Israel … giving them a great military advantage because it’s easier for your enemy to spy on you and shoot down on you than it is for you to try to spy on them and shoot up a them. We asked our tour guide if they were “up” there looking “down” on us and she confidently assured us that they were.
Like I said, it is an eerie feeling … something that we’re not used to here … sharing a border with a country that openly and vehemently hates us and wants to destroy us. Our neighbors … the countries that actually share a border with us … are Canada and Mexico … and we’ve gotten along with them pretty well. I’ve been to both borders and I never got the same eerie feeling that I got when I was standing on the Golan Heights. Looking over the border of Mexico or Canada, I neve got the feeling that they were watching us … waiting for a good excuse or good weather to lob a few SCUD missiles our way.
For many years our geo-political situation gave us the illusion or sense of being protected or far-removed from the hatred, unrest, and bloodshed going on in many other countries and regions of the world. Our country was physically attacked once by some islands 2,000 miles out in the Pacific Ocean … and that was horrifying enough to rouse us to war … but, for the most part, we have felt pretty safe and secure, am I right?
In 1992, a great movie starring Tom Cruise, Jack Nicolson, and Demi Moore, came out that challenged our delusion of safety and security. Most of you have probably seen it or at least heard of it. It’s called “A Few Good Men.”
Tom Cruise plays a brash, young military lawyer whose been assigned to defend two Marines accused of murdering a fellow Marine by the name of Santiago, who was considered to be weak and therefore a threat to the safety and security of his unit. The two soldiers claimed that they were only acting under orders.
In the climatic courtroom scene, Marine Colonel Nathan Jessup … played beautifully by Jack Nicholson … gives this epic speech. “You want answers,” he explodes. “You can’t handle the truth! Son … we live in a world that has walls and those walls have to be guarded with men who have guns. Who’s gonna do it? You? You, Lt. Weinberg? I have a greater responsibility than you could possibly fathom. You weep for Santiago and you curse the Marines. You have that luxury. You have the luxury of not knowing what I know … that Santiago’s death, while tragic, probably saved lives. And my existence, while grotesque and incomprehensible to you, saves live. You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties you want me on that wall. You NEED me on that wall. We use words like ‘honor’ … ‘code’ and ‘loyalty.’ We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punch line. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide … and then questions the manner in which I provide it. I would rather you just said ‘Thank you’ and went on your way. Otherwise I suggest that you pick up a weapon and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a [bleep] what you think you are entitled to!”
Every time I hear that speech or see Jack Nicholson do it on screen it sends a shiver down my spine. Sorry you had to hear me butcher it but we don’t have the means for me to show that clip. If you get a chance, I suggest you watch the movie. Warning though … it’s got some spicy language.
The truth of Colonel Jessup’s incriminating speech is that we … you and I … do indeed live under what he called the “blanket of freedom” because a few good men and women are willing to stand on a wall and protect us from people and countries and military forces that seek to destroy us. I know that it’s hard to believe that the whole world doesn’t love us but … as we have seen in the past four or five months … we now know that that it isn’t the case, amen? Actually, we’ve known it for quite some time, haven’t we?
The movie, “A Few Good Men,” was made in 1992. The illusion that Colonel Jessup said we live under was violently ripped away from us on September 11, 2001. We watched planes plow into the Twin Towers in New York and then watched as both towers came crashing down. Chants of “Death to America” … once shouted angrily in distant countries is now being chanted right here in America. Are a few good men and women enough to protect us from the external and internal forces that would seek to destroy us? Or do we need something more than bullets and bombs, laws and politicians?
Yes. We need “Jehovah Sabaoth”! We already know that the name “Jehovah” refers to YHWH … Yahweh … the personal, unpronounceable verb name of the eternally ever-changing Elohim, Creator and Sovereign Sustainer of all that was or is or ever will be. The descriptor “Sabaoth” is probably not a title that you’re familiar with. Well, actually, you’ll realize that you are very familiar with it when you hear it in the English. The word “sabaoth” comes from the Hebrew word “tsaba” … which means “host” … “Jehovah Sabaoth!” … “The LORD of Hosts!”
The term “host” can throw us off, however. When we call God the LORD of hosts … we’re not talking about some king who entertains his royal guests or other kings with a feast or a fancy tea party. “Jehovah Sabaoth” … “Lord of Hosts” … is one of the most powerful names for God in the Bible … particularly in the Old Testament … where it is used over 270 times.
The title “sabaoth” or “host” is most commonly used to refer to a captain or a general who commands a mighty army. “Jehovah Sabaoth” … Lord God … is THE Supreme Host … with a capital “H” … of hosts, the Supreme Commander … with a capital “C” … of commanders. There never has been nor will there ever be a more supreme commander than Yahweh … Jehovah … God Himself … anywhere … at any time, amen?
Who do you turn to when your back is up against the wall … when the enemy is literally encamped right outside your gates? The Assyrian king, Sennacherib the Fifth, has just finished sacking your larger and more powerful northern neighbor … the Israelites … and is now beginning his brutal assault against Judah. All the other surrounding neighboring cities have already fallen so there is no one in the region who can come to your aid and join forces with you against the Assyrians … who are literally knocking at your front gate. Every day the Assyrians come out to taunt you. Their field commanders make fun of your lack of military strength in full hearing of everyone in the city … describing in gruesome detail what they and their army are going to do to everyone and everything once they break down your gates and breech your walls. Sennacherib laughs at the thought that anyone can save you. He even boasts that he is there as a servant of your God … the one you worship … the one you rely on to defend you … claiming that your God was the one who told him to come and destroy you. He offers you an ultimatum: surrender or die … a life of slavery … maybe … or death. A bit of a grim situation, don’t you think? What should you do? Who can you turn to in this impossibly desperate situation?
For King Hezekiah, the answer was obvious. He turned to Jehovah Sabaoth … the Supreme Commander of Heaven and earth.
In Isaiah 37, Hezekiah receives a letter from Sennacherib demanding that he and Jerusalem surrender immediately or be completely destroyed. No mercy. Hezekiah goes straight to the Temple … the headquarters for Jehovah Sabaoth … and spreads Sennacherib’s letter before the altar of the Host of hosts and prays:
“O Jehovah Sabaoth … Lord of hosts … God of Israel, who is enthroned above the cherubim, You are God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made heaven and earth. Incline Your ear, O Jehovah, and hear; open Your eyes, O Jehovah, and see; hear all the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Jehovah, the kings of Assyria have laid waste all the nations and their lands, and [they] have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods, but the work of human hands – wood and stone – and so they were destroyed” … in other words, the people had acknowledge their sin and repented by getting rid of their idols. “So now, O Jehovah our God,” Hezekiah prays, “save us from [Sennacherib’s] hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone are the LORD” (Isaiah 37:16-20).
With his back against the wall, Hezekiah knelt before God … Jehovah Sabaoth … and asked the Lord of Hosts to intervene in his hopeless situation. He acknowledged that God was the Host of hosts and that He alone had the power to achieve the impossible. Adonai ... the Lord of lords and King of kings was also Jehovah Sabaoth … the General of generals and the Supreme Commander of commanders … including Sennacherib and his immense army.
Hezekiah asked Jehovah Sabaoth, the Supreme Commander of the Universe, for a miracle … not just so Hezekiah could save his own life and the lives of his people. He also prayed and asked for a miracle so that Jehovah Sabaoth could display His power against such an unstoppable army.
And guess what? Jehovah Sabaoth … the Lord of hosts … the General of generals … the Supreme Commander of the Universe … answered Hezekiah’s pray. “Therefore thus says Jehovah concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege ramp against it. By the way that [Sennacherib] came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says Jehovah. For I” … Jehovah Sabaoth … “will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David” (Isaiah 37:33-35; additions mine).
How does Jehovah Sabaoth defend and save His city? Listen to the power and might of Jehovah Sabaoth: “Then the angel of Jehovah set out and struck down 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies” (Isaiah 37:36). Stop and think about that for a moment. God sent how many angels? And that one angel killed how many battle-hardened soldiers? Yeah … 185,000. Hum … and just as God had promised, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, broke camp and withdrew and returned to his hometown of Nineveh and stayed there (Isaiah 37:37) … where he was later assassinated by two of his own sons.
When we’re done here today, I believe that you will never, ever read or hear the name “Jehovah Sabaoth” … the Lord God of hosts … the same ever again. Along with the poet of Psalm 47, we will draw strength and hope from the fact that “Jehovah Sabaoth is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (v. 7) … Jehovah Sabaoth … the Lord of armies … the Eternally Self-Existent One is with us. Jehovah Sabaoth … the Lord of hosts … is the Commander of what country … what army?
When the Assyrian army had encircled the city of Jerusalem and began to lay siege to it, it was the prophet Isaiah who counseled Hezekiah to go before Jehovah Sabaoth in prayer. You see, Isaiah had been given a glimpse into God’s heavenly throne room … Jehovah Sabaoth’s “command center.” Here’s what He saw: Jehovah Sabaoth sitting on a throne, high and lifted up. His robe filled the Temple. Above Him stood the seraphim … fiery angels with six wings. You see, God’s army is a supernatural army, amen? Jehovah Sabaoth is Commander and Chief over the supernatural hosts of Heaven. Standing outside the throne room of One who commands such an army, Isaiah cried out: “Woe is me!”
The Apostle John saw Jehovah Sabaoth on His throne too. He saw God surrounded by seraphim and cherubim and he fainted. God’s voice was like the sound of thunder or the sound of a thousand waterfalls. The Apostle John described what he saw as best as he could given the inability of human language to even begin to describe Jehovah Sabaoth. The One … with a capital “O” … that John saw seated on the heavenly throne “had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne. Around the throne [were] 24 thrones, and seated on the thrones [were] 24 elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. Coming from the throne [were] flashes of lightening, and rumbling and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which [were] the spirits of God; and in front of the throne there [was] something like a sea of glass, like crystal. Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, [were] four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind; the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, [were] full of eyes all around and inside” (Revelation 4:4-8; paraphrasing mine).
Jehovah Sabaoth … seated on His throne … guarded by these four incredible beings. Around His throne are the elders … and then angels … seraphim and cherubim … a multitude … thousands upon thousands … of them. Now that’s an army, amen? Jehovah Sabaoth … the Lord of every creature in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, and all therein (Revelation 5:13).
When Hezekiah prayed to Jehovah Sabaoth, God only had to send ONE angel … ONE! … to defeat and discourage the great general and emperor Sennacherib and send him yelping all the way home with his tail between his legs. One angel killed 185,000 battle-tested Assyrian warriors. Imagine what Jesus could have done had he called down 12 legions of angels?
Jehovah Sabaoth sent only one angel to protect Jerusalem from being devastated by an invading army but He sent an army of angels to defend and rescue one of his prophets – Elisha. The king of Aram sent cavalry and chariots and foot soldiers to the city of Dothan where Elisha was staying. You can find this story in chapter 6 of 2nd Kings.
The king of Aram’s army snuck in under the cover of night and surrounded the city … all this to capture one man. Elisha is not even aware that this is happening … he’s resting comfortably in his bed … sleeping. When Elisha’s servant gets up early the next morning and goes out to rustle up a little breakfast for Elisha and himself, he finds an army with horses and chariots lying in wait for his master. He runs to Elisha and wakes him up, shouting: “O my Lord! What shall we do?” Elisha rouses himself, wipes the sleep from his eyes, yawns, and says … [pause] … “Don’t worry … those who are with us are more than those who are with them” (2nd Kings 6:16). He was right. If Jehovah Sabaoth is with you, who can be against you, amen? Charles Spurgeon once preached: “The Lord of Hosts … is on our side as our august ally; woe unto those who fight against Him, for they shall flee like smoke before the wind when He gives the word to scatter them.”
What does Elisha do? He prays. “O Lord, open [my servant’s] eyes so that he may see” (2nd Kings 6:17). I love it. Elisha prays to God … not to open his eyes but that God would open his servant’s eyes so that his servant could see what Elisha was seeing … the hills around Dothan full of angels in chariots of fire being pulled by fiery horses. The king of Aram sent soldiers and chariots to seize Elisha but God sent angels and chariots of fire to stop him. Jehovah Sabaoth sent incredible power to overcome and incinerate the enemies of His prophet. The servant thought that he and Elisha were greatly outnumbered but, in reality, it was the army of Aram that was greatly outnumbered and didn’t stand a chance.
We need spiritual eyes to see that the spiritual world is more real than this world. One of the most unusual fish that God has ever created is the “anableps” … or four-eyed fish … found in Central and South America. The anablep has large, bulging eyes that are strategically situated on its head. The upper and lower part of each eye has separate corneas and retinas … basically two eyes in one. As it skims along the surface of the water, the top half of its eye can see what’s going on above the water. At the same time, the bottom half of its eye is below the surface of the water, allowing it to see what’s happening below the surface as it swims along … and it can do this simultaneously. This physical arrangement makes anableps very hard to catch because it can see fishermen and birds coming from above and predators from below.
Pretty weird and cool at the same time … but that’s the kind of discerning vision that we need to have as Christians. We need to see what’s going on around us … and, at the same time, what going on above us. We should always be looking up, so to speak, to see the spiritual battle that is taking place. As the Apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 6:12 … our struggle is not just against flesh and blood but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realm. Because we are under the protection of the Commander-in-Chief of the armies of Heaven, we need not fear the “tens of thousands drawn up against us on every side” (Psalm 3:6) … amen?
Now … I would be remiss if I didn’t point out that this cuts both ways. Sometimes God has to protect us from the actions of others and sometimes God has to protect others from us, amen? Jehovah Sabaoth is the Supreme Commander of all. Jehovah Sabaoth is not on any side except the side of righteousness. When the Hebrews crossed the Jordan River and began advancing on the fortified city of Jericho, Joshua went ahead to get a sense of the land and size up his opposition. As he was heading towards the city, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” the angel replied, “but as commander of the Lord’s army I have come” (Joshua 5:13-14). In other words, God doesn’t pick sides. Picking sides suggests that there is a choice … A or B … or, in this case, between the Israelites and the Canaanites. For Jehovah, there is no A or B … there is only one side, one choice … the right, the good … period. In other words, God doesn’t have to pause and think, “Should I do this or should I do that … what would be the ‘right’ thing to do?” We, on the other hand, do struggle with a lot of choices but when you get right down to it, it really boils down to two choices … God or the world … amen?
Which side am I on? What would happen if I woke up one morning and found my bed surrounded by the hosts of Heaven? Am I the one the Lord has to trample and bring to my knees?
Which side are you on? My friends, the God of the heavenly armies will go to battle for you when your back is against the wall … when you’re being oppressed … when you’re overwhelmed and outnumbered. But He will also marshal His troops against us if we are not putting Him first in our lives. He does this because He loves us. He does this to get our attention. He does this for His glory and for our ultimate good. If it seems like what you’ve been chasing has just vaporized before you eyes … if you make money only to find it flowing through a hole in your pocket … if you feel like you never have enough … Jehovah Sabaoth may be knocking out the props of your life to get your attention. And, until you admit that you are impoverished apart from Him, things will never get better. Before we can find comfort in the name … Jehovah Sabaoth … we have to face this question: “Am I fighting for the LORD or against the LORD?”
Again, I would like to quote Charles Spurgeon: “At this hour a mountain of difficulty, distress, or necessity may be in our way … and natural reason sees no path over it … or through it … or round it. Let faith come in,” he encourages us, “and straight way the mountain disappears and because a plain. But faith must first hear the Word of the LORD, ‘not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD of Hosts. This grand truth,” Spurgeon concludes, “is a prime necessity for meeting the insurmountable trails of life” (www.azquotes.com/author/13978-Charles_Spurgeon?p=4).
Jesus is Jehovah Sabaoth. When Jesus was born an angel announced His birth to the world and a multitude of heavenly hosts broke into song the night that He was born.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus told Peter that he could call upon 12 legions of angels come and rescue or defend Him … all He had to do was give the order. In case you’re wondering, that’s between 60 and 72,000 angels … and we remember what one angel did to Sennacherib’s army, amen? When the Apostle John got his glimpse of Heaven, there was Jesus at the right hand of His Father, surrounded by millions upon millions of divine beings, elders, angels, and saints … all worshipping Him ceaselessly and forever.
I want you to take this home with you. When our God … Jehovah Sabaoth … wanted to bring us eternal salvation … He did not use angels … He did not sacrifice an angel. No … Jehovah Sabaoth gave His best … He sacrificed His one and only Son.
Angels do not get our worship and praise … Jesus does. He is the one who paid for our sins … not the angels. He is the one who conquered death … neither angels nor generals nor politicians nor scientists nor doctors could do that … only Jesus … Jehovah Sabaoth … alone has the power and the authority to do that.
This is why the Word of God calls us to repent of our sin and believe in Jesus. When we believe in Jesus we find out what our Savior … as the Commander-in-Chief of the Army of Heaven … can and will do for us, amen? “For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways” (Hebrews 1:14). If you have a guardian angel … if you have a host of angels watching over you … it’s because Jesus commanded them to, amen?
Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, tsunamis, floods, droughts, famine, and pandemics can seem like giants in our lives, but “God is our refuge and our strength … an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea. Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall. He lifts His voice the earth melts. Jehovah Sabaoth is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalm 46:1-2, 6-7).
God is bigger than the U.S., China, Russia, the European Union combined times a million. God is bigger than a hundred billion Donald Trumps, Putins, Xi Jinpings, Justin Trudeauss, Boris Johnsosn, or Emmanuel Macrons. He’s bigger than the FBI, CIA, Homeland Security, the KGB, or Interpol. He is bigger than Black Lives Matter, Antifa, the KKK, ISIS, or Hamas. When we look for refuge, when we look for strength … we don’t look to the world … we look to YHWH … the Creator and Sustainer of the universe … we look to Adonai … the Lord of lords, the King of kings … we look to El Elyon … the Most High God … we look to Jehovah Jireh … our Provider … we look to Jehovah Sabaoth … the Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of Heaven. When the nations are in an uproar … when kingdoms fall … when we find ourselves oppressed, overwhelmed, and outnumbered we need to follow Jehovah Sabaoth’s advice: “Be still and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations. I am exalted in the earth. Jehovah Sabaoth … The LORD of Hosts … is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (Psalm 46:10-11) … amen?
